New Developments in DCC-MD

Here’s the latest on the digital wars--the intensifying rivalry between the digital compact cassette (DCC) and the mini-disc (MD), new formats due out this fall.

There have been new developments since both were the center of attention at the Consumer Electronics Show in Chicago a month ago. The DCC is a digital tape developed by Philips to be played on a deck that also accommodates standard cassettes--one of the format’s major selling points. Sony’s MD is a tiny, recordable disc encased in plastic. A primary attraction of both formats is CD-quality sound.

In Chicago, there were reports that the DCC launch, originally scheduled for September, would be delayed a month or two. Not so, says format spokesman Rick Rogers, sales and marketing vice president for PolyGram Records, who insisted the premiere would still be in early September. Philips is putting out only one model, a home deck, the DCC900, costing $800.

Also, the DDC launch, limited to major cities, won’t be as comprehensive as the original plan, which called for numerous companies to put out models this year. Rogers said only Matsushita and maybe Tandy would have units on the market by the end of the year, while other companies would put out their models, including portables and car units, sometime next year.

The availability of prerecorded music in each format is crucial to public acceptance. The news from Sony, through Bob Sherwood--vice president of sound technology and marketing in the software division--is that Warner Bros. Records, which was supposedly boarding the MD bandwagon a month ago, has not yet decided to make prerecorded MDs--a blow to the format. So far, only Sony’s record division and the EMI Music Group have committed to making prerecorded MDs. The DCC faction, on the other hand, can boast that every major label, including Sony, will release prerecorded DCCs.

Sony’s marketing plans for the MD have been clarified too, according to Sherwood. In November, a portable, a boom box and a car unit will be available. He added that only the price of the portable, which will be the mainstay of the MD line, is certain: $500, with blanks costing $8-$10.

Some reports have indicated that Sony’s launch would include only models that play back and none that record. Sherwood emphasized that both the portable and the boom box would both record and play back.

What’s New on Video: Here are some recent releases:

“Bugsy” (Columbia TriStar, no set price). Basically a character study of the flamboyant gangster (Warren Beatty) and a love story, director Barry Levinson’s lauded movie, which earned a flock of Oscar nominations--including best picture--details Bugsy Siegel’s efforts to set up the first hotel-casino in Las Vegas while carrying on a tempestuous romance with Virginia Hill (Annette Bening) in late-’30s Los Angeles.

“Star Trek VI: the Undiscovered Country” (Paramount, no set price). In this fast-paced, riveting adventure, one of the best of the series and probably the last movie with the original TV cast, the Enterprise crew battles the evil Klingon empire, including a Shakespeare-spouting ham of a villain named Chang, marvelously played by Christopher Plummer.

“Shining Through” (FoxVideo, $95). Exciting, romantic World War II spy thriller, which some critics said was too far-fetched, with Melanie Griffith engagingly portraying a spy who’s working as a nanny for a Nazi officer (Liam Neeson). She starts out as a secretary to a spy (Michael Douglas) who becomes her lover.

“Grand Canyon” (FoxVideo, $95). Set in L.A. and co-starring Danny Glover, Kevin Kline and Steve Martin, writer-director Lawrence Kasdan mingles struggling blacks and neurotic, well-to-do whites in this well-meaning but contrived drama about instability, anger and violence in urban life.

“Europa Europa” (Orion, no set price). An excellent, acclaimed film by Polish director Anieszka Holland, this is the incredible tale of survival during World War II by a young German Jew pretending to be a Nazi, living among Hitler’s elite youth corps.

“Meeting Venus” (Warner, $93). A mildly entertaining comedy set backstage at a classical concert in Paris, featuring Glenn Close as a diva, and the efforts to put on a show despite assorted headaches, like labor conflicts.

Upcoming on Video: “The Hand That Rocks the Cradle” (Wednesday), “Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot” (July 16), “The Great Mouse Detective” (July 17), “Hook” (July 24), “This Is My Life” (July 30), “Prince of Tides” (Aug. 5), “Hear My Song” (Aug. 6), “Wayne’s World” (Aug. 12), “Medicine Man” (Aug. 19), “Final Analysis” (Aug. 26) and “Mambo Kings” (Sept. 2).

Laser: “Star Trek VI,” “The Addams Family” and “Don’t Tell Mom the Babysitter’s Dead” are just out.

Also: “Tall Story” (Warner, $35); A frothy, 1960 romantic comedy, starring an unlikely twosome, Jane Fonda and Anthony (“Psycho”) Perkins, in a story strangely mixing college basketball and the Cold War.

“The Cobweb” (MGM/UA, $35); Star-studded cast, including Richard Widmark, Lauren Bacall, Charles Boyer, in an enjoyably tawdry soap opera, set in an upscale psychiatric clinic, where some of the staff members make the patients look sane.